Biology

Physiology

Frillish are jellyfish-like Pokémon, the males seeming to resemble a young prince, while the females a young princess. The males are blue, while the females are pink. Each have round heads with a crown-like tuft, the males having theirs surrounded by a triangular pattern and the females with a round pattern. Each also have five tentacle-like appendages, the male's being smooth while the female's are wavy. Each have oval eyes, the male's eyes having a blue sclera and red iris, with a higher, strait eyelash on each, and the female's eyes having a red sclera and blue iris, with a lower, curled eyelash on each; both have white pupils. Both male and female Frillish have a collar around their necks, the males having a wavy collar and the females having a more fluffy collar.

Gender differences

Female Frillish have wavier pads on their tentacles, a more crownlike tuft on their heads, and are pink in color, while males are blue. Males also have a frowning face whereas females have a smiling face. Males have red eyes with blue sclera while females have blue eyes with red sclera.

Special abilities

It makes its victim numb with the use of its poison and takes it to its deep den.

Behavior

Frillish are known to gently float around in the waves until they are prepared to strike their prey.

Habitat

Frillish are hadalpelagic creatures and live in dens some 5 miles (8 kilometers) under the sea surface. Therefore Frillish must be able to cope with extremely dark and highly pressurized sea conditions.

They are also the only Pokémon, besides Nidoran, whose gender differences are visible in a PC Box, or when viewing the party.

Despite the fact that the species of Frillish and its evolution is Floating Pokémon, and that Frillish has been seen floating in the anime, they don't have the Ability Levitate. Levitate and the pair's species have the same Japanese name.

Origin

Frillish and its evolution were most likely inspired by the Nurarihyon, a jellyfishyoukai that is either shown as a demonized jellyfish or as a jellyfish-like man who wears refined, sometimes regal, clothing. It is also possible that they was inspired by the Kurage no Hinotama, a type of jellyfish-like will-o'-the-wisp. Its design is inspired by the jellyfish and Victorian-style monarch attire: the male form's appearance based on a king's while the female's is based on a queen's. The moon jellyfish has inspired Frillish in being a ghost type. The two larger arms Frillish possesses are more similar to those of squids than the tentacles of real jellyfish. Frillish and its evolution also have traits in common with sea monsters like the Kraken, most notably their rumored penchant for destroying ships and feeding on the crew.